Community Corner

Doyle's Appointment to Council Invalidated on Appeal; Court Rules Mayor Could Not Break Tie

Hoboken City Council will remain politically deadlocked and without a ninth member after an appellate court Friday ruled that Mayor Dawn Zimmer's decisive vote cast in January to break a 4-2-2 stalemate and appoint Jim Doyle to fill a vacant Hoboken City Council seat was not legal.

The court affirmed that abstentions are distinct from "no" votes, and thus Zimmer should not have been able to cast the "tie-breaking" vote needed to secure Doyle's five-vote majority because no tie existed.

The four council members who oppose Zimmer and fought Doyle's appointment released a joint statement following Friday's decision in their favor. 

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"Today a unanimous decision of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, confirmed what we have known all along – that Mayor Zimmer and her Council allies illegally attempted to install James Doyle as a rubber stamp fifth vote on the Hoboken City Council," the joint statement reads. 

Doyle was appointed last October by a 4-2-1 vote — Councilman Michael Russo abstained and Councilwoman Beth Mason was absent — to fill the unexpired term of Carol Marsh, who resigned from council in September. Anti-Zimmer council members fought Doyle's appointment in court and he was removed from his seat in November after Hudson County Assignment Judge Peter Bariso ruled that five votes were needed for Doyle's appointment.

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Subsequent attempts to appoint Doyle ended in votes of 4-2-1 with an absence and 4-2-2. In each case, the absence and abstentions were interpreted as "no" votes that enabled Zimmer to break the tie in Doyle's favor.

Bariso ultimately upheld Zimmer's tie-breaking vote after the third attempt to seat Doyle and he was permitted to return to the dais. However, opponents of Doyle's appointment appealed the decision and his council status had remained in limbo until Friday's appellate court decision that invalidated Zimmer's decisive vote.

When reached by phone Friday, Zimmer said the ruling essentially affirms that council members can obstruct an appointment and leave a city government deadlocked.

"While this may be legally permissible, I don’t think it’s the right thing to do for the city," she said, noting that Hoboken City Council will have been deadlocked for 15 months — from October 2012 through December 2013 — by the time a ninth member is seated in January.

Councilman Ravi Bhalla, who supports Doyle's appointment, called the court's decision "misguided" and scolded the council's anti-Zimmer contingent for their behavior.

"The intention of [Theresa Castellano, Michael Russo, Tim Occhipinti and Beth Mason] was to deadlock Hoboken city government by manipulating the court system and they got exactly what they wanted," he said by phone Friday. "They should be ashamed of themselves."

Zimmer said she plans to consult with the city's lawyer and make a decision whether to appeal Friday's ruling to the New Jersey Supreme Court by next week.


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